4 Ways Communication Counseling For Couples Can Salvage Relationships

Marriage.com

July 23rd, 2018

4 min read

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4 Ways Communication Counseling For Couples Can Salvage Relationships

While many would perish at the thought of having to indulge in some couples counseling, it’s not such a bad idea at all, not least because relationships are tough and communication, in particular, can be a challenge.

Communication counseling for couples could really save a relationship.

So it makes sense to at least find out why communication counseling for couples might help your relationship today.

1. Most people are not great listeners

Most people don’t find it easy to listen.

Instead, they naturally want to talk or express themselves and when they are not talking, they will be thinking about how they feel about a situation or what they are going to say next. It takes skill to learn to listen effectively.

This is a prime cause for conflict in a relationship, especially when there is already arguments, blame or complacency in a relationship.

Perhaps you experience a lot of arguments or frustration with your partner because you feel like they don’t listen, or maybe you are frequently accused of not listening.

Instead of allowing the frustration, arguments, and conflict to build, why not consider learning how to communicate together more effectively via communication counseling for couples. You might enjoy the peace that you gain as a result!

2. Words have different meanings for different people

We take words for granted, assuming that we know the meaning of them and that the meaning that each word holds is the same for everybody.

But if you pick a few random words, especially words that convey emotion, and ask a few different people what that word means to them (without them referring to a dictionary) the chances are that they will all come up with a slightly modified version of the meaning.

Explore further and ask people what the meaning of the word that they just used to explain the original word is and you’ll find that each person’s interpretation is so far away from where it initially started that you can suddenly see why there is often confusion in the way that we relate and communicate.

Sometimes you might experience a partner responding to something you have said in a way that appears to be over the top and even bizarre to you, and it’s likely to be because the meaning of the word is totally different to your partner than it is to you.

Communication counseling for couples can help you both, as a couple, to understand how your choice of words trigger emotion in each other and teach you how to find a way to communicate more effectively in the future.

3. Communication seems natural and is often taken for granted

Because we are taught to communicate using language and words from the moment we are born, we can take the way that we communicate for granted which can influence the people close to us negatively sometimes.

We don’t always realize how we hurt each other with our words, or how we misunderstand each other’s communication styles. And a miscommunication amongst those we love is always going to cause strife and disruption in your relationships – often over nothing!

Wouldn’t it be better to learn how to communicate well as a couple so that you don’t have to deal with these communication issues in your relationships?

Communication counseling for couples can be one of the most significant investments you make in your life and your relationship.

4. We communicate non-verbally more than verbally, which can cause conflict

Have you ever been in a conversation with a partner or close family member and all of a sudden your partner is questioning your response or challenging your facial expressions?

Perhaps you unconsciously folded your arms, rolled your eyes or hesitated too long when an important question was asked, and it was too much for your partner to handle because apparently, you do things like this all the time.

This common communication problem can leave the ‘culprit’ feeling exasperated and bewildered, after all, what did they do?

Our non-verbal communication styles can get us into trouble, sometimes in deep trouble over and over again!

Even if you didn’t mean to communicate to the partner in the way that you did, you’ll find yourself in trouble again and again if you don’t figure out what it is that you are doing that is irritating your partner.

And of course, you might become irritated by your partner’s irritation of you which will queue up lots of arguments and unnecessary conflict!

It doesn’t have to be this way though if you use communication counseling for couples as a tool to help you both acknowledge the way that you communicate unconsciously and non verbally and learn to either adjust your nonverbal communication style or learn to understand how to interpret the non-verbal communication from your partner.

Final thought

In this article, we’ve only included four reasons why communication counseling for couples can be critical for any relationship and a highly valuable investment in your relationship, but there are many more where they came from.

If you are wise and start to learn how to communicate effectively with your partner, you’ll discover many more ways that we can miscommunicate and how to correct them. Leaving you in a peaceful and happy relationship where you both communicate positively and if that’s not a reason to want to explore communication counseling for couples we don’t know what is!